APOD: Two-Armed Spiral Milky Way (2008 Jun 06)

[Case]

Obviously we should tune in to a signal from a probe that someone else launched long ago.

Just in case that we're the first ones to be able to do so, we should do the responsible thing and launch the camera satellite, and be that "someone else".

And we should focus our SETI efforts to globular clusters with a good galactic viewpoint, as they could be transmitting pretty pictures of our home galaxy. If they're transmitting anyway, it might as well be something that the recipient might like to see, but is unable to see on his own.

[harry]

G'day

Maybe we could astro travel and get there at the speed of thought.

Now thats the way to go.

I will try it and let you know.

[NoelC]

Oops, already done, Harry. See the APOD that started this thread.

If the rate of the passage of time can be manipulated - and it most certainly is variable (this is at the core of the Theory of Relativity) - then it seems to me we could manipulate the field of time around the Earth to slow it down so that we would "feel" like we hadn't waited long at all for the probe to get there and send back results.

Oops, made the Earth into a black hole.

Maybe that wasn't such a good idea. Never mind.

-Noel

[Winston]

Hey I was looking back at this illustration and wondering if there was a large copy without the overlay piece on it. Does anyone know? It's a great illustration!

[bystander]

http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/news/277 ... Go-Missing
http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/images/1 ... Way-Galaxy